loving the other ice mage
by Titania Eli
Summary: headcanons of lyon vastia. – lyon would protect gray one day, just like what ur and ultear had done.
1. grief

_These are a series of headcanons regarding Lyon Vastia. Do submit any headcanons and I'll try to write them. :D_

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**i. Lyon grieved for Gray during those long, painful seven years.**

The news had spread like wildfire.

Tenroujima was eradicated by Acnologia. The entire island vanished. No one survived. The Black Dragon, after destroying the island, disappeared from sight.

The moment the news reached Lamia Scale, Lyon had been the first to volunteer for the search. With the help of Blue Pegasus's war ship Christina, they had combed the entirety of the sea, to no avail.

And after six long, tedious months of searching, Lyon started to feel his hope waning of ever finding any survivors.

Out of all the guilds, Lamia Scale was the nearest to Tenroujima. Lyon could hardly remember how many times a week he would head out to sea. With every passing day of failure and lack of results brought him a step closer to admitting defeat.

Giving up meant acknowledging that Fairy Tail – _GrayGrayonlyGray – _was dead. And imagining Fairy Tail _(Gray) _dead seemed almost an impossible task. Because Fairy Tail _(Gray) _was just so _alive_, who lived as if every possible day was their last, who was so crazy and insane and out of the world that sometimes Lyon had to wonder if they were humans and _they were really gone, weren't they_

To his guild, he never showed any signs of giving up because giving up meant that he had lost. To his guild, he remained strong and staunch in his belief that the missing Fairy Tail members were still alive. To his guild, he was barely affected by the tragedy.

But back in his room at the end of the day, he felt his façade broke, too tired to hold the shards together. At the end of the day, he grieved.


	2. encounter

_Lyon needs more love..._

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**ii. Lyon met Ultear just once.**

He almost screamed when the villain of the week brought his foot down onto his trapped leg. Something cracked ominously.

He was pinned to the ground, but Lyon refused to lie down and take the torture quietly. If he's going to die, he might as well die fighting with all the defiance he could mustered.

In a distant part of his mind, he wondered where his team was when he needed them.

The Dark Mage raised his arm, preparing to deliver the finishing blow. Lyon glared challengingly, refusing to look away.

The flash of dazzling white light nearly blinded him, and regardless of his reluctance _(he doesn't want to die showing any sign of obedience to the man who's going to kill him)_, he squeezed his eyes shut to protect them against the radiance.

When the light faded, he opened his eyes, surprised to find himself still alive. In agony, but _alive._ He blinked rapidly to get rid of the white spots in his vision.

There was someone kneeling beside him. He let out a pained cry as he was released from the stakes nailing him down to the ground.

"Breathe." A distinctly feminine voice advised gently.

Dark purplish hair tickled his neck as the unknown woman leaned over him.

"...Ur." he whispered. He felt the woman stiffened beside him.

Her face was blurry but he could still made out the woman shaking her head and her murmuring a quiet, "No."

"Ultear..." he slurred, his vision tunnelling. Memories of a sad-eyed Ur spinning tales of a lost baby girl, of years grieving for a child gone too young, too _soon._

"Stay with me!" the woman snapped, worry lacing her tone. She reached down and shredded her dress, rolling the ripped fabric into a ball.

"I need to set your leg." She warned him. "Bite down on this."

A peppery floral fragrance lingered over the torn cloth, and he distantly wondered if the scent belonged to her perfume.

He tensed when he felt her hands on his leg. Without any warning, she gripped the limb and _pulled. _His scream was muffled by the cloth and he jerked in pain, tears welling up in his eyes.

He sank back down onto her lap, trembling from the weak aftershocks. She took out the cloth in his mouth, carding her fingers through his damp hair. The action was strangely tender.

"Take care of yourself, Lyon Vastia." She whispered. "I won't be here to save you the next time."

His eyelids were heavy and he slowly drifted off. He thought he felt a pair of lips brushed over his forehead before he slipped into unconsciousness.


	3. mourning

**iii. Once every year, Lyon would disappear for the entire day to mourn for his adopted mother without fail.**

Every year, Lyon would take a day off to properly mourn for the woman he had regarded as a mother. He would disappear at the crack of dawn, and only returned after the sun had long set and everyone in the guild was fast asleep in their beds.

No one knew where he went every year, and no one dared to ask.

To his guild, there were particular subjects that were prohibited to bring up in front of Lyon, and where he vanished to once every year was one of them.

Compared to all his other peculiar quirks and secrets, Lyon wasn't actually that touchy with other people knowing where he goes. But it amused him slightly to see everyone tiptoeing around him as if he's a bomb that might go off any moment during this period of the year that he just left it alone and remained silent.

Let them wonder, he thought. He had to keep up his reputation as a reticent and aloof loner somehow.

Ur had no grave. Her body had once been crystallized to imprison Deliora, and after his foolish attempt in using Moon Drip to challenge the demon, she was now part of the vast ocean.

So once a year, on the anniversary of Ur's 'death', Lyon would visit the nearest beach and dipped his feet into the sea water, wandering by the shoreline and feel the water caressing his legs and soaking his pants, no matter how high he rolled up.

If anyone saw him, they'd have thought him deranged, talking to thin air.

"Hey, Ur," he paused, taking a moment to breathe in the salty air. "It's been exactly five years since Gray vanished. We still couldn't find him."

The gentle breeze teased his hair playfully, caressing his cheek. If he closed his eyes and imagined hard enough, he could feel Ur's beatific smile against the nape of his neck.

"Whether he's dead or alive, you know, don't you?" he asked quietly. The wind whistled in his ear.

He crouched down; the tide rose and splashed upwards, drenching his coat. His fingers skimmed the surface of the water.

"I'm tired, Ur. Really, really tired... I don't know if I can continue like this, searching for someone who literally disappeared into thin air. I don't have the strength to continue believing." He sighed tiredly, forcing a fake smile. "What if he's dead? Really dead? Do I still continue having faith?"

He bowed his head, shivering when water spattered lightly over his face.

"Tell me what to do, Ur..." he implored. He was so emotionally tired that he just wanted to sink down into the sand beneath his feet and let the sea washed him away.

Knowing Gray was dead would have been infinitely better than this game of cat and mouse. Just that this time the mouse was a much better player than the cat.

He glanced up when he felt a familiar magic tickled at the edge of his awareness. Jura hovered in his peripheral vision, calm and patiently waiting. How Lyon had not noticed him before he does not know, but he simply chalked it up to the difference in power between them.

He shuddered in spite of his near immunity to the cold and stood up with slight difficulty. He trudged towards the older Mage, rubbing his arms.

"Let's go home." Jura said quietly, draping a coat over his shoulders.

Lyon clutched the coat with gratitude. He gazed back briefly and thought he saw a hazy phantom standing amongst the waves. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

"Yeah," he agreed softly. "Let's go back home, Jura-san."


	4. sacrifice

**iv. Lyon would protect Gray one day, just like what Ur and Ultear had done.**

He didn't think, he just reacted.

Gray was unceremoniously pushed aside as Lyon threw himself in front of the oblivious younger man, bearing the full brunt of the attack.

The impact threw him backwards and he landed roughly with a sickening thud, deathly still like a broken rag doll.

A roar of fury from Gray and a woman screamed Lyon's name shrilly.

The noises of the battlefield were drowned out by sheer agony. Lyon choked on something bitter and coppery in his mouth, gagging on the hot liquid that filled his throat.

He felt someone dragged him up and he coughed painfully, crimson flowers dotting his lips. There were many voices yelling above him. He managed to make out someone shouting his name frantically, but he was too far gone to register who it was.

His fingers twitched and he felt a familiar callous hand gripped his, tight and unrelenting despite the sticky, warm blood.

_Gray_, Lyon smiled. At least Gray was safe.

He closed his eyes.

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_I guess all Ice Mages have a sacrificial streak, huh? Please don't hate me._


	5. saviour

**v. The day Lyon met Ur when he ran away from home.**

Ur blinked again, rubbing her eyes for good measure. When the image of the little silver-haired sprite half-buried in the snow did not vanished, she stumbled forward in panic to drag the child out.

The boy couldn't have been any older than six. He shivered in her arms, his lips a worrying blue and his complexion bloodless. His colourless lashes fluttered restlessly against his cheekbones.

Ur swore under her breath, divesting herself of her jacket to wrap around the boy. He snuggled closer into the fur jacket, his trembling not ceasing in the least.

She hugged him close to her chest and ran all the way back to her cottage. She would not let another child die in her arms again.

Xxx

He woke up to a warm bed and piles of blankets wrapped around him. He blinked sleepily as he sat up, looking around the room curiously.

He was startled to find an adult _(adultadultdangerno) _woman sleeping by his side. He nearly toppled off the bed as he scrambled away from her and his movement jerked her out of her sleep. In surprise, she stared at his terrified face.

"Hey, hey, calm down!" she soothed, raising her hands defensively. "It's alright. You're safe now. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."

"Safe?" the boy echoed softly, as if he doesn't understand the meaning of the word.

She nodded cautiously, "Safe."

Inwardly, she raged with fury as she remembered blackish-blue bruises in the shape of a human hand, the healing yellowed scabs of scattered wounds on his back and the fear in a too young face.

"My name is Ur." She smiled sincerely on the outside. "What's yours?"

He was still scared and wary of her, but she could see him relaxing slightly after failing to find any deceit in her expression. She patiently waited, not at all in a hurry.

Finally, he gave her a tiny, barely decipherable smile and she knew she was hooked, because this little boy with his pale hair and dark eyes was almost like a snow fairy sent to capture her heart by the gods.

"Lyon Vastia." He whispered shyly.

She beamed at him, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lyon."

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_Okay, I realized several things after I finished writing this. First, Lyon had been searching for a Mage to teach him magic when he met Ur. Second, Ultear didn't exactly die in her arms. Okay, so I don't really give a shit... because this is the scenario I have of Lyon's childhood. Okay, continue on to next chapter! _


End file.
